A group of doctors and health activists have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighting such discrepancies in drug pricing which is allowing companies and hospitals to make profits on essential medicines, while contributing to high out-of-pocket expenditure on health for patients.Sushmi Dey | TNN | July 25, 2017, 07:37 IST

NEW DELHI: Not just private pharmaceutical companies and stent makers but even some of the public sector units (PSUs) are supplying medicines to hospitals at a discounted price, sometimes as low as round 150% than the MRP at which it is sold to patients.

A group of doctors and health activists have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighting such discrepancies in drug pricing which is allowing companies and hospitals to make profits on essential medicines, while contributing to high out-of-pocket expenditure on health for patients.

The letter to PM is accompanied with quotations from companies to hospitals offering special discounted prices.

For instance, one of the quotations from a PSU pharmaceutical company submitted to a hospital shows that a drug with an MRP of over RS 315 is offered to the hospital for merely Rs 135. Similarly, an injection with retail price of Rs 600 is offered to hospital for Rs 350.

While similar practices of offering highly discounted prices to hospitals by private firms have come to light earlier, such offers from public sector company owned by the government has come as a surprise.

“We have made some effort to collect the documents exhibiting flaws in the pricing of several medicines and appliances to be submitted to your good self with request for needful to streamline the prices for the benefit of the patients and end the exploitation of common man,” the letter from Alliance of Doctors for Ethical Healthcare (ADEH) said.

The group of doctors have also made some suggestions to streamline drug pricing and keep a check on undue margins of pharmaceutical companies and profiteering by hospitals.

“The difference between the actual price of the drugs and the MRP should not be more than 20% because at present it is up to 700-800% in some cases,” it said. It also suggested fixing drug prices based on cost accountancy.

While seeking regulation for streamlining price structures at public sector companies, the group suggested PSU pharmaceutical companies be revived and strengthened to cater to drug requirements of the country.

It also recommended making uniform code of pharmaceutical marketing practices mandatory to curb the practice of giving freebies to the healthcare providers.